Benedict Cumberbatchs ancestors made their fortune in the Barbados slave trade

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I’ve actually been avoiding this story for the better part of a week, but I’ve been getting requests to cover it, so here you go. It seems that many generations ago, Benedict Cumberbatch’s family were big slave owners in Barbados.

When the story began, it seemed like a cool “Anglo-American ties” story – when NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio appointed a woman named Stacey Cumberbatch to be NYC’s commissioner, people were like, “Hey, I bet she’s distantly related to that dude who plays Sherlock Holmes.” It seems that Stacey Cumberbatch has done her own research on her family tree, and she told reporters that she is distantly related to Benedict’s family – but not by blood, through slavery in the 18th century. Stacey Cumberbatch is descended from slaves in Barbados once owned by Benedict’s fifth great-grandfather. Many descendants of slaves still carry their “master’s” surname.

So, has Benedict ever acknowledged his family’s past? Apparently, he has. He’s even said that his mother didn’t want him to use the Cumberbatch name professionally because of the association with the slave trade. And what Benedict hasn’t already confirmed is well-known through the historical record. In 1728, Abraham Cumberbatch bought a sugar plantation in Barbados and through the course of years, more than 250 slaves worked the plantation. This plantation made the Cumberbatch family very wealthy for years to come, even after slavery was abolished in Britain. And centuries later, Benedict gets a posh education and stars as an American slave-owner in 12 Years a Slave. You can read more of the slave-owning history of Benedict’s family here.

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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